Effects of Ramadan on cognitive functions in young boys

This study was conducted with 24 healthy children/adolescents (aged 12.84 ± 0.69 years). The experimental protocol consisted of two sessions: Before-Ramadan (BR) and at the beginning of the second week of Ramadan (R2). At each session, the boys were randomly tested on simple reaction time (SRT), choice reaction time (CRT), negative priming reaction time (NPRT), and auditory discrimination (P300). The tests were administered and scored by the same person in the different sessions. The study found that Ramadan fasting did not have an effect on various reaction times or on electro-physiological data, including P300 amplitude and latency. The current study, conducted with healthy children/adolescents, indicates that Ramadan fasting had no impact on various reaction times (SRT, CRT, NPRT), suggesting the preservation of information processing speed and decision-making, even in the face of increased task complexity. This is evident, on the one hand, through the maintenance of the ability to react to unexpected events, and, on the other hand, through the mastery of resistance to automatism, thus reflecting the preservation of inhibitory function (NPRT). Regarding P300 data, the absence of changes in latencies and amplitudes suggests that Ramadan fasting did not alter either the evaluation time of auditory stimuli or auditory attention processes.PMID:38194430 | PMC:PMC10786423 | DOI:10.1080/19932820.2024.2301830
Source: Libyan Journal of Medicine - Category: General Medicine Authors: Source Type: research